#yoko’s legacy

[beatlepaul4ever]

To everyone annoyed the video isn’t serious.

If they didn’t know how wonderfully weird and goofy they were, they’re only surface skimming fans.

[cinemaobscura]

The Vampire Doll | 幽霊屋敷の恐怖 血を吸う人形 (1970) dir. Yamamoto Michio

[merrysithmas]

the beatles need a modern meta animated show like Agent Elvis

[beatlesblogger]

News Round-Up: Some Films and Books On The Way

There are not one but two John Lennon and Yoko Ono films set for release shortly. The first, and the most interesting, is One to One: John & Yoko which has just premiered at the Venice International Film Festival and is getting very good reviews. It is a documentary set in New York in 1972 exploring not only John and Yoko’s new-found love of that city, but also their musical, personal, artistic,…

[jimluce]

John Lennon's Imagine: Timeless Anthem of Peace and Unity

From Its Creation to Global Impact: Celebrating a Song of Hope and Change New York, N.Y. – John Lennon first sang ‘Imagine’ over forty years ago. Today, the song’s words and its message are just as important because they remind us to imagine peace at a time when our world doesn’t seem very peaceful. “Imagine” is a song by John Lennon from his 1971 album of the same name. As his best-selling…

[inspiteallthedanger]

I think it’s highly likely that if John and May had stayed together, May would have ended up dead and the Beatles legacy would have been destroyed. For that reason, I doubt whether Paul has any regrets about urging John to go back to Yoko. Well, he might have regrets when he thinks about John as he was before the fame and the drugs and the hangers on. But surely not when he thinks about what John was like during the last 12 or so years of his life.

Gotta say, I have literally zero idea where you’re getting any of this take from, but can say I (and Paul) don’t agree with it.

[thenorbertnorberts]

[bishiedoll]

Audrey Hepburn and Shoujo Manga.

Something I wish more people talked about when discussing the history of shoujo manga is the influence of Audrey Hepburn. There are unfortunately very few sources in English aside from the shoujo manga Wikipedia page that cites Sabrina as the first romcom movie that inspired the emergence of romcom as a genre in shoujo.

I found this interesting japanese article about the history of shoujo manga that says (translation is mine so it may not be perfectly accurate): "[Audrey Hepburn's] dark hair and petite, slender figure made her appearance closer to that of a japanese, unlike other more glamorous looking foreign actresses. Her looks, paired with outfits made by Givenchy, quickly made her a fashion leader in Japan."

According to this article, the manga "Ojousan Tantei Series" (1958~1961) by Imamura Tsutomu & Imamura Yoko (father and daughter) used Hepburn as inspiration for the fashion worn by the main character.

The article also names Mizuno Hideko as a shoujo mangaka inspired by Hepburn, who made a manga adaptation of a Roman Holiday in 1966. According to this other blog, Mizuno's adaptation (originally published in an issue of Ribbon Magazine) didn't face copyright issues on release day but as time passed and copyrights became more strict, it was never printed again. That is, until 2007, when the copyright for the film expired and the manga adaptation was published in its own copy (as shown below).

And of course I can't not mention that it is also one of Mizuno Hideko's manga adaptations, this time of Sabrina under the title "Suteki na Cola", that is cited on Wikipedia as the first shoujo romcom.

There are other shoujo mangaka who were clearly inspired by Hepburn like Tani Yukiko (most obvious in her fashion illustrations and her various illustrations of Hepburn) and Chikae Ide who made a manga adaptation of Green Mansions following the release of the movie, which starred Hepburn (and Tani Yukiko made the cover for that adaptation..!)

Audrey Hepburn's legacy is truly impressive and, chances are, without her remarkable popularity amongst japanese teen girls at the time, the shoujo romcom as we know it today may have only been popularized later !

[tavolgisvist]

Chris Charlesworth, Paul's interview for Melody Maker and John's furious letter to Paul published in Melody Maker

I know, it's long read, sorry, but I need to figure out when all got wrong, because - just look:

John’s John. John wants to wipe everything away and start again, but in doing so he never wipes anything away. He wants it to be him and Yoko against the world, or whatever, but he`s still in with all the others, in with all the contracts and going into the meetings and everything.“He’s getting pissed off with it though – I sense it. I’ve had a couple of good conversations recently with just John, and I’ve felt a lot of common ground with him.* And I watched him on the Parkinson show, and really a lot of the things he’s into, we’re into as well.”

(Paul McCartney, Nov 1971, interview with Steve Peacock for Sounds)

*after John’s ‘Imagine’ with HDYS but befor John's letter to Paul in Melody Maker

There’s no hard feelings or anything, but you just don’t hang around with your ex-wife. We’ve completely finished. ’Cos, you know, I’m just not that keen on John after all he’s done. I mean, you can be friendly with someone, and they can shit on you, and you’re just a fool if you keep friends with them. I’m not just going to lie down and let him shit on me again. I think he’s a bit daft, to tell you the truth. I talked to him about the Klein thing, and he’s so misinformed it’s ridiculous.**

(Paul McCartney interviewed by student journalist Ian McNulty for the Hull University Torch, May 1972 [From The McCartney Legacy, Volume 1: 1969 – 1973 by Allan Kozinn and Adrian Sinclair, 2022)

**after John's letter to Paul in Melody Maker (published 4th Dec 1971)

What happened?

November 11th (or 10th), 1971 Paul says to Chris Charlesworth:

The joke is, though, that we don’t have to do trials. It’s not necessary. If the four Beatles signed a bit of paper, or even ripped the old contract up and said, “This contract is no longer valid, we all hereby said it, we all legally direct the shareholders…” the whole thing, to wind it all up, we could do it. And if that’s really what he wants, he could do it this minute. [snaps fingers] I’d prefer not to ever talk about the Beatles thing again in these kinds of terms, and just get on with what I’m doing. I really would prefer to do that. If they’d let me. It’s really down to them, you know. They don’t think it’s down to them. I think they think it’s down to me, somehow. Like he was saying, you know. But I don’t – I’m sure it isn’t. I’m in the minority, I’m being out-voted. And like I say, if the majority agreed to it, we could do it. See, I said [to them], “Look, the thing is, we’ve got all these advisors and all this sort of stuff. I think what would be good to do is the four of us just get a document – we don’t even have to meet for long, we just get some kind of document – and sit down and say, without even asking Klein, Eastmans, anybody, without saying to anyone, we’ll just write a little thing saying, ‘We hereby split up, and everything’s got to be shared by four,’ and then just lay it out on them. Say, ‘Here, now, sort it out.’” And I was saying that would be good. But John’s saying, “Oh, yeah, but that’s like asking us to stop the bombing in Vietnam.” What do you mean? Don’t put me – don’t call me the bloody American, I’m not the aggressor. That’s what I mean. They think I’m like – ’cause I’ve done the High Court action, ’cause I look like the aggressor, they’re sort of thinking of me in terms of America. But really, I’m Vietnam! I’m the one getting screwed, you know! I mean, they’re – I’m not… you know. We eventually decided we were all Vietnamese. [laughs]

And circa November 20th John reads in Melody Maker:

“I just want the four of us to get together somewhere and sign a piece of paper saying it’s all over, and we want to divide the money four ways.” “No one else would be there, not even Linda or Yoko, or Allen Klein. We’d just sign the paper and hand it to the business people and let them sort it all out. That’s all I want now. But John won’t do it. Everybody thinks I am the aggressor but I’m not you know. I just want out.”

November 11th (or 10th), 1971 Paul says to Chris Charlesworth:

I don’t want to go putting the other three down particularly. That’s – that’s my trouble really. I probably should. I probably should, really, just rant and rave and call them the biggest shits on earth, you know, because they’re certainly not cool, what they’re doing. [pause] But you know. They don’t believe – they don’t think what I’m saying is true. They think that I’m just pulling a fast one. Klein’s told them I’m trying to get control of the company and everything. He keeps saying, “He’s trying to get the song publishing” and all those kind of little red herrings everywhere. But I tell you, I just happen to know that the Eastmans just are… just more moral, than Klein. I mean, really, the reason that turned me on to them is they said they don’t ever sign people. They don’t sign people. They just get paid a fee. They don’t bother with the other fees. Just pay a fee. I just pay them a fee. ‘Cause I don’t like having everything in a sack. I’m not into them for anything. … He [Klein] sort of says, “Why? I’ll buy it for you, and I’ll give it to you.” Well, bloody hell, you know, he wants to get in with the Beatles so bad he’s got to give them big things to show them he’s a good player. But he’s not good enough. He’s not good enough, I don’t think. I don’t think he’s really really got it. I don’t think he’s really got the goods. I think he’s a fantastic talker, he’s a fantastic all of that, you know, and he’s told George and John that he’s got ’em Newsweek and Time. He told me all that, you know. He said, “I’m going to make the Beatles bigger than they’ve ever been.” But all I have to say is as far as I’m concerned, he’s never really come up with it. I mean, I saw him in his Playboy interview, he says, “McCartney said,” “McCartney rang up George…” He’s being careful, he sets the whole thing up in the interview. He says, “McCartney was asked to do the Madison Square Garden in aid of the Pakistani refugees.” [derisive laughter] You know, “pakistani refugees”. “McCartney was asked to do it, and you know what the guy said? He said, ‘Sure, I’ll do it! If you dissolve the partnership.’ What kind of shit is that?” That was Klein’s kind of thing. The main thing was I said to George that the reason I can’t do it is if I come it’s, “The Beatles have got together again.” And it’s the press, and it’s all that [inaudible], and it’s all for [Klein]! And his shares shoot up, and I… go and make him happy, you know. I mean, if I’dve gone, you never know, John might’ve gone, and the Beatles are together again, and for the press and the world that would’ve been your story, you know? So I’ve got to think that. I’m forced to think that way now. But you can say what I would’ve done had it not have been Klein in, you know. I don’t know. I might’ve easily done it. I might’ve done it. The fact of the matter is, Klein was in there, and the reason why I couldn’t do it was ’cause if I go do it, then I’m supporting Klein. Then he’s organising the contract, and all he has to do there is put in a little picture with the Beatles in Billboard next week, you know. But, Allen’s a nice fella, a good talker, and the others really dig him. They really like him. So you can’t say anything bad there, you can’t – you can’t tell them not to. I think I’ve made a mistake, actually, in trying to advise them. Every time I ring up I say, “Look, he’s had a million and a half, and you haven’t got it,” and I think it pisses them off. I think that also – I think they sort of secretly think I might be right, too.

When Let It Be came out, for the first time ever, there was a little bit of hype on the back of the Beatles album, and it said, “A new-phase Beatles album”. And what it really meant was… you know. “The Beatles have split.” But that’s what I object to. “A new-phase Beatles album” is what they put on the back of it. You see, that is to me, that doesn’t really sort of tell – I can’t, I don’t dig it, you know. I see John, and his whole sort of image is very honest and open and all that. And I’m sure, I know he is, you know! LINDA: He believes [Klein]! PAUL: He’s alright, John. But I mean he manoeuvred, and he knows he manoeuvred. He did a whole lot of it. He said in that Rolling Stone article [conducted by Jann Wenner], he manoeuvred all that Klein bit. And I don’t think anyone was really into manoeuvring at that time outside of John and Klein, you know. It was very definitely sort of a manoeuvre. It was done – like I said, “a new-phase Beatles album”, [and then be told to] sign a new contract just after we’ve been told we’re not gonna play together again. I said, “Well, isn’t that a bit silly?” And Klein said, “It doesn’t make any difference. You get a new royalty, if you don’t do any more stuff, you still get more [royalties] than you’ve made ever.” Now what I didn’t realise was yeah, that was all true, but you’d have to sign yourself up again. ... Like I say, I think it’ll just be a whole lot healthier when I do get out. Just for them, too. ‘Cause I don’t like all this stuff, where I’ve got to… Because if I read a thing, whereas I would have read it with some sympathy towards the Beatles and Klein, I can’t any longer. I read it – and I tend to see the other side of it, you know.

And circa November 20th John reads in Melody Maker:

Paul’s bitterness towards Allen Klein is obvious, but his attitude towards the other three Beatles seems more of concern than of dislike. He worries about their affairs but is tired of warning them. They are tired of his warnings, so Paul just wants to get out.

and

…Linda, whose hand is in constant contact with Paul. “He’s talking about money now. That’s one of his pet points. He’ll never stop. Denny and Denny are protesting, but there’s nothing I can do,” she says before I face the action.

and

“I said to George the reason I couldn’t do it was because it would mean that all the world’s press would scream that The Beatles had got back together again and I know that would have made Klein very happy. It would have been a historical event and Klein would have taken the credit. “I didn’t really fancy playing anyway. If it wasn’t for Klein I might have had second thoughts about it but I don’t know, really. Allen’s a good talker. The others really dig him, but I’ve made the mistake of trying to advise them against him and that pissed them off. I think they might secretly feel that I am right though.

November 11th (or 10th), 1971 Paul says to Chris Charlesworth:

Paul: I liked Imagine. Yeah, I think Imagine’s good. I didn’t like the others. CH: You didn’t like the others. Paul: No. Well, I just sort of give them one listen-through and see if there’s anything I can pinch. [pause] [John] says, “You live with straights.” Yeah… so what? What’s so criminal about that? You know, I like straights. I quite like some straight people. I have straight babies! [laughter] But saying to me ‘Yesterday’’s the only thing I’ll ever do, well… you know. That doesn’t bother me. Hey, it’s not bad. If it is the only thing I’ve ever done, then that’ll do me. But it isn’t! And he bloody knows it. It’s not the only ever thing. Because he’s sat here, in this very room, and he’s watched me do takes, and he’s dug it. And he knows it, you know. But he’s trying to sort of wipe it all away. John’s – John’s – you know. John’s John. ’Cause I talked to him, I had a couple of good conversations recently – with only John, really… But I felt common ground with him. I saw him on the Parkinson show, and really most of what he’s saying is what we’re into. What we want. 

And circa November 20th John reads in Melody Maker:

“John and Yoko are not cool in what they’re doing. I saw them on television the other night and thought that what they were saying about what they wanted to do together was basically the same as what Linda and I want to do“. “John’s whole image now is very honest and open. He’s alright is John. I like his ‘Imagine’ album, but I didn’t like the others. ‘Imagine’ is what John is really like, but there was too much political stuff on the other albums. You know, I only really listen to them to see if there is something I can pinch,” he laughs. CH: And how do you sleep? “I think it’s silly. So what if I live with straights? I like straights. I have straight babies. It doesn’t affect him. He says the only thing I did was ‘Yesterday’ and he knows that’s wrong.” Paul motions to the studio below. “I used to sit down there and play and John would watch me from up here and he’d really dig some of the stuff I played to him. He can’t say all I did was ‘Yesterday’ because he knows and I know it’s not true.” ‘Yesterday’, it seems, is a bone of contention with Paul; in fact, all the Beatles classics that he is associated with. He doesn’t own them but feels he ought to.

Why Chris wrote like that? I suppose, it (shit) happened because he was badly biased and unprofessional.

And you know what? November 20th not only Melody Maker publishes Paul's interview. Steve Peacock in Sounds tells very similar story. We can compare - and what we'll see?

Before John said he was leaving The Beatles I was lying in bed at home one night and I thought I would like to get a band together like his Plastic Ono Band. I felt the urge because we had never played live for four years. We all wanted to appear on a stage but not with The Beatles. We couldn’t do it as The Beatles because it would be so big. We’d have to find a million seater hall or something.

(Paul McCartney, November 11th, 1971, interview with Chris Charlesworth for Melody Maker) and

The night before John said he was leaving the group and all that, we were at home and it suddenly dawned on me “If everyone else doesnt want to do it, I’ll get my own band, even if it’s just a little country and western thing or something like Johnny Cash, just so I can get in there and have a sing.” Because thats all I wanted, just to play. … Everyone did really, everyone was trying to play, but no one wanted to do it with the Beatles.

(Paul McCartney, Nov 1971, interview with Steve Peacock for Sounds)

‘We hereby split up, and everything’s got to be shared by four,’ and then just lay it out on them. Say, ‘Here, now, sort it out.’” And I was saying that would be good. But John’s saying, “Oh, yeah, but that’s like asking us to stop the bombing in Vietnam.” What do you mean? Don’t put me – don’t call me the bloody American, I’m not the aggressor. That’s what I mean. They think I’m like – ’cause I’ve done the High Court action, ’cause I look like the aggressor, they’re sort of thinking of me in terms of America. But really, I’m Vietnam! I’m the one getting screwed, you know! I mean, they’re – I’m not… you know. We eventually decided we were all Vietnamese. [laughs]

(Paul McCartney, November 11th, 1971, interview with Chris Charlesworth for Melody Maker) and

“And John said, “Yeah, but that’s like asking us to stop the bombing in Vietnam.” We eventually decided that we were all Vietnamese, so that’s all right… “But I keep wanting to send him postcards saying ‘The war’s over if you want it’ – tell him what he’s saying. It’s just crazy, I’m sure the truth’s a whole lot more simple than it’s made out.”

(Paul McCartney, Nov 1971, interview with Steve Peacock for Sounds)

John’s – John’s – you know. John’s John. ’Cause I talked to him, I had a couple of good conversations recently – with only John, really… But I felt common ground with him. I saw him on the Parkinson show, and really most of what he’s saying is what we’re into. What we want.

(Paul McCartney, November 11th, 1971, interview with Chris Charlesworth for Melody Maker) and

“John’s John. John wants to wipe everything away and start again, but in doing so he never wipes anything away. He wants it to be him and Yoko against the world, or whatever, but he`s still in with all the others, in with all the contracts and going into the meetings and everything. “He’s getting pissed off with it though – I sense it. I’ve had a couple of good conversations recently with just John, and I’ve felt a lot of common ground with him. And I watched him on the Parkinson show, and really a lot of the things he’s into, we’re into as well.”

(Paul McCartney, Nov 1971, interview with Steve Peacock for Sounds)

Paul: I liked Imagine. Yeah, I think Imagine’s good. I didn’t like the others. CH: You didn’t like the others. Paul: No. Well, I just sort of give them one listen-through and see if there’s anything I can pinch.

(Paul McCartney, November 11th, 1971, interview with Chris Charlesworth for Melody Maker) and

“I liked ‘Imagine’, I didn’t like the others much. But really, there’s so much political shit on at the moment that I tend to play them through once to see if there’s anything I can pinch.”

(Paul McCartney, Nov 1971, interview with Steve Peacock for Sounds)

“We will start by just turning up at a place we fancy visiting and just playing a straightforward gig. We might use another name to keep it quiet. We have rehearsed and we can play live together. In fact, it sounds quite good. It doesn’t really matter that much. “I don’t want Wings to become a media group, with our signatures on knickers which are sold for promotion. I don’t like that now. I was happy with that situation in The Beatles, but it died in the end. We are starting off as a new band, but if we ever get to be huge like The Beatles it will be very difficult.”

(Paul McCartney, November 11th, 1971, interview with Chris Charlesworth for Melody Maker)

and

“With this band, we play good together live because nobody’s too hung up about what he’s playing. We’ll go round to Denny’s house and just sit there playing songs that we half-know. It’s good. “We don’t want to be a media group – we don’t want to go everywhere and plug everything and have knickers with our name on them and all that. That won’t work for me now – it’s all done. It was great while it lasted but it’s over now.” “Yeah, it was great, obviously, and I did enjoy it, loved it, but it got to be a bit tight at the end. It was when we got to be Beatles with a big B that things began to be difficult because even if we wanted to go out and play, how the hell could we do it? We’d have had to have done a big million seater thing, and that’s why I was suggesting them that we all just go away somewhere and play, like I want to do with Wings. Ricky and the Redstreaks at Slough Town Hall or something – and everyone turns up for the Saturday night dance and finds it’s us. “We’re all musicians, and the fun of being a musician is being able to play live to people. For us, it might be a year, it might be two years, or it might be next week. We don’t know, we might not even fancy going live in the end, and if that happens it’s all right too.

(Paul McCartney, Nov 1971, interview with Steve Peacock for Sounds)

My best playing days were at the Cavern lunchtime sessions. We’d go on stage with a cheese roll and a cigarette and we felt we had really something going. The amps used to fuse and we’d stop and sing a Sunblest bread commercial while they were repaired.

(Paul McCartney, November 11th, 1971, interview with Chris Charlesworth for Melody Maker) and

My best playing days were at the Cavern, lunchtime sessions, when you’d just go on stage with a cheese roll and a coke and a ciggie, and people would give you a few requests, and you’d sing them in between eating your cheese roll. That was great to me, I think we got something great going in those days – we really got a rapport there, which we never got again with an audience. And if an amp blew up or something, it didn’t matter, because we’d just pick up an acoustic and sing the Sunblest commercial or something – and they’d all join in.

(Paul McCartney, Nov 1971, interview with Steve Peacock for Sounds)

It seems like the same conversation, isn't it? But if it's so, Paul about HDYS said not “I think it’s silly. So what if I live with straights? I like straights. I have straight babies. It doesn’t affect him. He says the only thing I did was ‘Yesterday’ and he knows that’s wrong.” as it tells Chris in Melody Maker. Paul said:

“I think it’s silly. If he was going to do me he could have done me, but he didn’t. That didn’t phase me one bit. ‘You live with straights’. Yeah, so what? Half the f-king world’s straight; I don`t wanna be surrounded by hobnailed boots. I quite like some straight people, I’ve got straight babies. ‘The only thing you did was Yesterday’. That doesn’t bother me. Even if that was the only thing I did, that’s not bad, that’ll do me. But it isn’t, and he bloody knows it isn’t because he’s sat in this very room and watched me do tapes, and he’s dug it.”

(Paul McCartney, Nov 1971, interview with Steve Peacock for Sounds)

And not only this. Look,

Paul: “I thought ‘Go Now’ was fabulous. He came round to see me and brought a guitar and we played some things together and it was great. We just rehearsed a couple of numbers together.” It seems that, within reason, just about everybody plays everything on the album. The drums, naturally enough, are Denny’s main concern, although additional percussion is contributed by all. Paul plays most of the lead guitar – “I’d always fancied myself as a lead guitar” – while Denny plays harmony lead, chords and some bass. Paul too plays bass and mainly the basslines on the album have been overdubbed. Linda plays most of the piano and organ lines. “Linda isn’t very experienced so the keyboard parts tend to be very simple and that is, I think, very valuable. It has an innocence rather like a child’s painting,” said Paul.

(Paul McCartney, November 11th, 1971, interview with Chris Charlesworth for Melody Maker)

and

“I play all the lead guitar on the album,” said Paul, “except for a few places where Denny (Laine) and I play in harmony. I fancy myself as a guitarist, see. He did have a solo but I took it off him.” Denny smiled. Linda sings, writes with Paul, and plays a lot of keyboards. “I like what she does. Her style isn’t like that old, hard pro thing that’s got all the technique, but it’s like children’s drawings. That’s not a very good simile, but it’s got what children’s drawings have got… innocence.”

(Paul McCartney, Nov 1971, interview with Steve Peacock for Sounds)

Talk turned to Beatles live shows – or lack of them. “John wanted to do a big thing in Toronto but I didn’t dig that at all. I hear that before he went onstage for that thing he was sick, and that’s just what I didn’t want. Like anybody else, I’d have been nervous because of the Beatle thing.

(Paul McCartney, November 11th, 1971, interview with Chris Charlesworth for Melody Maker)

and

“My best playing days were at the Cavern… That was great to me, I think we got something great going in those days – we really got a rapport there, which we never got again with an audience… … “That was the stage with the Beatles I thought was best, and thats the way Id like to be able to play again – if a few people happen to turn up to a gig then its usually great, but if youre all sitting there like penguins waiting to judge me, then Im going to be nervous, and Im not going to enjoy it. Im not like John, who swallows his nerves in Toronto and be sick just before he goes on – that Im not going to go through thank you. Its not necessary, and if its not necessary, I`m not going to do it.

(Paul McCartney, Nov 1971, interview with Steve Peacock for Sounds)

I might be wrong but the Chris Charlesworth looks like a snake or like immature Mark our Lewisohn who loves to manipulate words for to get the truth as he imagine it. The Chris' truth is 'there was no love lost between Paul and the other three Beatles, especially John' and he pictures it. And his article led John to anger, he wrote the letter - and we all know what happened then.

So, may be he had any reasons to think that? May be he knew Paul and John many years and can see how much their relationship changed?

…I first met Paul on Monday November 8, 1971, at a party to celebrate the launch of his group Wings and their album Wild Life at the Empire Ballroom in London’s Leicester Square. He was wearing a loud check jacket and, like John would do, seemed much smaller in real life than I’d always imagined him to be. He was surrounded by people all night but at some stage in the evening I asked John Entwistle, another guest, to introduce me. I figured that since John was in the same trade he’d know Paul and sure enough he did. We managed to push past everyone and I had a brief chat, the first time I’d ever spoken to a real live Beatle. Me: “Why the Empire Ballroom on a Monday night?” Paul: “Why not?” Linda: “We thought it would be a nice idea to invite a whole lot of our friends to a big party where they could bring their wives.” Paul: “EMI are paying for it.” Me: “When will we hear Wings live?” Paul: “Well, it should be soon now. We want to start in a very small way, maybe do some unadvertised concerts or something.” As I would do two years later with John, I simply requested from Paul a more in-depth interview in the near future, and a session was granted for Wednesday, November 10 at Abbey Road Studios. The interview took place in the control room of Studio Two, the studio where The Beatles had recorded almost all of their songs. I tried not to show it but I was in awe not just of Paul but also my surroundings. Here it was, I remember thinking, that all four of them sat and listened to playbacks of everything from ‘She Loves You’ through Sgt Pepper to Abbey Road. If these walls could speak… Although ostensibly to promote his new band and album, the interview strayed into Beatles-related topics and I certainly came away with the impression that there was no love lost between Paul and the other three Beatles, especially John. This probably explains why my subsequent story in MM was headed “Why Lennon Is Uncool.” <…> This was the only substantial interview I ever did with Paul, although I would encounter him many times again over the years.

(Chris Charlesworth, 2014, 'PAUL McCARTNEY - Here There And Everywhere')

add to this

[uispeccoll]

#TastyTuesday

On this day in 1960, The Beatles (John, Paul, George, and Ringo) recorded music for the first time together at Akustik Studio. I’m sure they had no idea then what their legacy would become, such as inspiring a pun-filled cookbook seen here. She Came in Through the Kitchen Window by Stephen J. Spignesi (Szathmary TX714 .S638 2000) is chock-full of recipes inspired by the Fab Four and their music, including “Can’t Buy Me Fudge”, “The Scallops of John and Yoko”, and “Turkey to Ride”. Intermixed with photos and interesting anecdotes, this is a real treat for any Beatlemaniacs out there, or maybe just those who need some recipe inspiration.  

-Kaylee S., Olson Graduate Research Assistant

[merrysithmas]

Elton John: *reading this quote and going insane and calling John Lennon at 2am to have a Gay Chat with him* Mate I need you to put on your glasses and face the truth

Can you link the interview where Paul says he wishes he were a girl because of John…

I’m familiar with the one with Yoko where she says if Paul were a girl but not one where Paul says it himself.

Thanks!!

sorry i was going crazy trying to find this you should've seen me in a public coffee shop scrolling through my entire mclennon tag for this but here you go!

here's the important and insane bit that he really said out loud on CAMERA

"Mm. It was, yeah. Um, in our songwriting, I had signs that the group was gonna break up, because… I mean, I think really what it was, really all that happened was that John fell in love. With Yoko. And so, with such a powerful alliance like that, it was difficult for him to still be seeing me. It was as if I was another girlfriend, almost. Our relationship was a strong relationship. And if he was to start a new relationship, he had to put this other one away. And I understood that. I mean, I couldn’t stand in the way of someone who’d fallen in love. You can’t say, “Who’s this?” You can’t really do that. If I was a girl, maybe I could go out and… But you know I mean in this case I just sort of said, right – I mean, I didn’t say anything, but I could see that was the way it was going to go, and that Yoko would be very sort of powerful for him. So um, we all had to get out the way. I don’t blame her. You know, you can’t blame her for being the object of his love."

[ceofjohnlennon]

44 years ago, we lost one of the greatest stars of our culture, but not only that: As fans, we lost the foundation that sustains our dreams and our humanity that taught us so much in so many areas of life. John Lennon is gone, but his legacy will never fade from the earth or the universe - even other planets have heard his art. John, for me, is a constant inspiration despite his physical absence on this plane we live in. Every day I learn more with and for him. He made me be myself without any shame and embrace my sometimes bitter sincerity, he taught me that what matters is us, the present, and the rest we live later, and that the past is over and we can fix the wrong. When I was born, he was no longer here, but it is as if he is still here today because he is in each one of us who love him daily, as Yoko Ono herself told us in 2010. May today not be a day of sadness for the loss, but rather a celebration of what the world had. John Lennon is eternal: today, yesterday, tomorrow and forever. And from fan to fan: Feel embraced today. Understand this different feeling of missing someone we don't live with. It's not strange, it's beautiful. This love is beautiful, like John and you, and us. Peace and love! 🕊🤍

[canmom]

watched a 30 minute video about hajime isayama and his development as a mangaka and a person. it talked a great deal about his self esteem and inferiority complex and anxiety, which i agree are all relevant to his work, knowing it's a lonely (maybe autistic? he kinda has the vibe) guy in his 20s trying to navigate a first serialisation explains a lot. but not a single word about his political ideology, and like. surely someone has asked him about it? at some point?

there was a period he was getting death threats from Korean readers after it came out that a positively portrayed AoT character was modeled after a certain Japanese general who participated in the occupation, it's not like it's a niche subject. and more generally there are points where AoT comes across almost as a roman à clef for the Japanese far right, the Marley arc onwards throws out all this Holocaust imagery, it's a story full of military coups and people getting radicalised into paramilitaries and geopolitical tensions and genocides and the bloody legacy of nation building, generally handled with about the subtlety of a train. he definitely was a nationalist at one point, and the general consensus on this website tends to be it's simply youjo senki levels of fash. I still feel like the situation is more complicated (at least there is a lot that would undercut a straightforward fascist reading), but I kinda want to hear what Isayama would say about it.

not that he entirely seems to have the strongest ability to discuss the themes of his work in explicit terms. like not even in a 'the work should speak for itself' sort of way, which i would respect - he seems to talk a lot about his hesitance over what readers would accept, his worries he didn't stick the landing, his difficulties connecting with his main character, how the anime adaptation affected his writing. he's happy to talk about a lot of things! and i don't mean some interviewer should corner him like 'so man, are you an actual fascist or what, the people are dying to know' - more I just kinda want to know what the hell he was going for with all this. whether he feels his worldview changed over the course of the story. if what I think I am picking up is what he thought he was putting down. because i can speculate and all, but... whereas with someone like Hayao Miyazaki, or Yoko Taro, they've talked quite a bit about their respective ideological development and how it's reflected in their stories, with Isayama there's just nothing I've been able to find...

[georgeharrisonsmiling]

This isn’t exactly a George related ask but I saw your tags on the post where John and Yoko said George wasn’t intelligent, and one thing I’ve found very interesting as I’ve watched more John interviews and then the reactions of the other Beatles is how much Grace particularly George and Ringo gave John. I saw an interview recently where John called Ringo’s music embarrassing and said he felt embarrassed when working with him (post Beatles solo stuff). There’s a lot of talk about how John and Paul were publicly spatting throughout the 70s, and a lot of attention from the 80s onward on Paul’s comments and defenses of John, but I see practically nothing from George or Ringo. With George I think part of it is he probably didnt think he had as much of a “right” to John’s legacy as Yoko or Paul, and thus didn’t insert himself as much, but it’s also interesting how George would seemingly not publicly comment but internalize John’s words (I mean, the whole debacle of John being left out of I Me Mine after countless comments about how no one’s contributions to his/pauls songs counted plus at the time saying he didn’t want to be involved with George is a great example)

As you said, John mentioned his embarrassment with some of Ringo's work (especially Ringo's first album) and he also said in 1980 that if he made a bad song, he could always give it to Ringo. Though honestly between lawsuits, diss songs and affairs, a couple of comments were nothing in comparison so Ringo opted to keep the peace and decided to focus on the many nice that John did say.

Maybe it's because I haven't actually investigated a lot about them but I don't think that Paul and John were publicly feuding that much in the 70s. Most things calmed down after ‘How do you sleep’ and then John didn't give many interviews for years. We know that John had strong opinions but most of them came out after he was killed. The conflict in later interviews was more about who wrote what in the Lennon-McCartney partnership but even then his comments weren't that bad.

I don't think it's mentioned often how jealous John got about George's career not only because of the commercial success of ATMP, also of the image that George was projecting at the time. Just one example: John was the one who quit the band first but people don't often say that "John was freed" when the band broke up the same way we talk about George. I think that jealousy is what made him lash out so much to George in interviews. Another factor is of course the Lennon-McCartney myth. Paul was allowed to be John's rival because the two of them were the extraordinary talents but George was never supposed to be on the same level. The other thing I think annoyed John was just how well George survived and thrived without his help.

George definitely gave John a lot of grace. George mentioned once that John would apologize in private sometimes so I guess that was one reason. Another one is that George disliked the gossiping around the Beatles so much that George didn't make many statements that he didn't mean while John was often changing his mind. I think that George just preferred to keep their relationship private and answer only what he was asked to.

If John had lived, that playboy interview would probably have impacted their relationship in some way. One important thing is that George was never ashamed of "I me mine" and he always defended his choice of not mentioning what John wanted.

[stewy]

this man was fed arsenic milk as a child btw.

i wish sean ono lennon would kill himself.

[muzaktomyears]

John Lennon by his friends and son: ‘He got eight years more than Jesus’

The former Beatle would have been turning 84 this autumn. Now his son Sean and those who knew him best are keeping his spirit alive with the rerelease of his classic solo album Mind Games

Everyone wonders what John Lennon could have become. When he was murdered in New York on December 8, 1980, the 40-year-old was in his post-Beatles prime. The superb album Double Fantasy had just come out and he was plotting a world tour. His second son, Sean, whom he took time off to bring up with his wife, Yoko Ono, was five, and Lennon was feeling inspired. Seven solo records since the Beatles had split ten years earlier; a reconciliation with Paul McCartney.

“Everyone gets the time they get, and he got eight years longer than Jesus,” says Bob Gruen, the rock’n’roll legend who took photographs of everyone who mattered in the 1970s. He captured Lennon and Ono’s time in New York and is confident and chatty — until conversation turns to what Mark Chapman took outside the Dakota that day.

“John should be alive now,” Gruen says, clearly still affected 44 years on. Gruen had spent the weekend with Lennon before he died and was developing his photos when he got the call. “He didn’t die in an accident or of a disease. His death broke my trust in everything. He was grounded at the time. He learnt a lot from raising his son, about enjoying his life and being sober. Then I heard he was dead.”

Lennon would have been 84 in October — and at least we are left with his songs. But legacy is complicated. Over the years McCartney has stolen his crown as chief creative in the Beatles. Partly because Lennon is no longer here to speak. Also because, during Peter Jackson’s 2021 film, Get Back, Lennon was largely stoned, while the charismatic McCartney conjured up magic. So to redress the balance, this month’s innovative rerelease of Lennon’s Mind Games (1973) pushes design and immersion in ways few box sets have before. It features new mixes — some that amplify Lennon’s voice, others that emphasise the instruments.

It is the work of Sean, 48, who has been at the forefront of the Mind Games rerelease. Lennon’s younger son is a musician and artist based in New York near his mother, 91. “The title track is one of the most beautiful songs ever written,” he says.

The songs answer questions Sean never got to ask his father. Despite being very young when his father was around, Sean does have memories of him — talking, watching TV, playing guitar and saying, “Good night, Sean.” The song Aisumasen (I’m Sorry) on the record is an apology from Lennon to Ono.

“One thing that distinguishes my dad’s solo career,” Sean says, “is how personal his lyrics became. It is like a diary, and it is my duty to bring attention to my father’s music. Not just my duty to him, but a duty to the world. With the world as it is now, people have forgotten so many things that I never imagined could be forgotten. I refuse to let that happen to this music — it means too much to me.”

Two years before Mind Games came out, Lennon moved to New York and met Gruen. Living in New York was simpler for him and Ono. They were hounded in Britain. “One paper called Yoko ugly,” Gruen recalls. “But in New York they were just treated as the quirky artists who came to town.”

Gruen’s eyes light up. “He was just funnier than everyone else,” he says. “I’d have loved him on Twitter, he was so cool with one-liners.” He smiles. “And, also, he learnt to cook. I’d always try to go to the Dakota for mealtimes.” What sort of food? “John used to be a meat and potatoes guy, but he met [the actress] Gloria Swanson in the vegetable store and she gave him a book that acted as a way into a macrobiotic diet from a western one. He got really into healthy food, baking vegetables and steaming fish.”

And this is the frustration. In the late 1970s Lennon was cleaning up his act. For himself, for Sean — a son he was involved with, as opposed to his first child, Julian. He had changed, from the man who went on his fabled “Lost Weekend” in Los Angeles in 1973. The weekend actually ran for months, during which Lennon left Ono, on Ono’s suggestion, for their assistant, May Pang, then 23. After Lennon went back to Ono, Pang carried on in the music business and married the producer Tony Visconti, but the Lost Weekend era remains her headline. During that time Lennon enjoyed chaotic recording sessions with Phil Spector. “I wondered if he’d ever make it back to New York,” Gruen says. “I thought he might get a place in Hawaii, or just die.” But Lennon returned in 1974, for his final six years.

What does Gruen think about how Lennon is remembered? Especially in Get Back? “Well, who’s the last one standing?” Gruen scoffs. “Who gets to write the history? The survivors get to write the history. That’s the way it goes.”

Tony King was the vice-president of Apple Records at the time of Lennon’s Lost Weekend. “We’re here to talk about my friend,” he tells me sweetly. King was out in Los Angeles working on a Ringo album when Pang phoned to say that Lennon needed help with his Mind Games record.

“I wasn’t looking forward to it,” King admits. “John could be sharp-tongued. But, in LA, he was super-friendly. I was straightforward. I told him he had to repair his reputation. After Imagine [1971] he’d gone in a different direction, making songs with a political edge. It was quite easy for John to get caught up in things. He had this tendency to see someone, decide he loved them and then go in their direction. I was lucky he went in my direction for a while. He realised he had lost some fans. Mind Games was more what people wanted.” Its songs were simpler and less political.

Personally, however, Lennon was in turmoil. “May on one arm, Yoko on the other!” King says. “He was juggling a lot.” Did Lennon talk about McCartney? “They were not getting along, but he was still fond of him,” King recalls. And what about that Lost Weekend era? “He was off the walls, to be honest.

“We went to Las Vegas and John interrupted Frankie Valli during a show, saying, ‘Get your cock out!’ We got thrown out and on the way back to the hotel he was pissing up against trees and then throwing his chips around the lobby. I put him to bed. It was difficult when he drank. John had taken way too much acid and so when he drank it flipped him into another style of person. One day it was great, the next it was very hard.”

King remembers the night his friend died clearly. “I was out at dinner in LA and the waiter said, ‘He’s dead.’ I returned to a very lonely, sad hotel room.” Does he ever think about what Lennon might have achieved later in his life? “Elton and I talk about John,” King says. He means Elton John. “We say, ‘I wonder what he’d be up to?’ Well, he’d have pounced on the internet and got into AI. And he’d still campaign. I could see him hopping on a plane to see Zelensky. He was a busy person, with an arresting personality. You’re never going to forget him.”

The Mind Games reissue is a beast, a lavish celebration of a fine, melodic rush of songs. Bonuses include the Ultimate Mixes, which bring Lennon’s voice to the fore; Raw Studio Mixes; there is a Super Deluxe Edition “presented in a 13in cube”; puzzles; and even an experience on the free Lumenate app that is described as a “consciousness-expanding psychedelic meditation” and uses the phone’s torch and Lennon’s tunes to guide users into “a state of consciousness between deep meditation and psychedelics”.

We are a long way from 1973 — when the session musicians David Spinozza, on guitar, and Ken Ascher, on keyboards, were asked to play on Mind Games. They recall the recording as efficient — Lennon left his partying for later. He was in a creative peak, with Mind Games his fourth album in three years since the Beatles.

“He was a Beatle!” Ascher says. “I was thrilled to get the call. Yoko told me, around 10pm, that John would like to meet. I called my wife and said, ‘I’m not coming home — I’m meeting John.’ He played me music he liked, and we talked for hours. His humour helped me relax.”

Spinozza worked with Lennon and McCartney in the 1970s. How did the men compare? “Paul would do one song for six hours, even for a day,” he says. “With John we never worked on one song for six hours. He worked quick — he was all business. I’m not saying one was better than the other, but Paul could work on a drum sound for hours. John just wanted to get it done.”

How does Sean feel about his parents, looking back? “Their story is a love story,” he says. “They found each other across a great divide and certainly struggled through ups and downs, but never doubted their love. It is important we remember them as an example. Even through rough patches you can see my father thought about my mother. They were simply, irrevocably intertwined.”

Lovely words — and as for John Lennon himself? “Generally it’s whatever comes out, like diarrhoea,” he once said of his recordings. “A bit personal, a bit political — someone told me Mind Games was Imagine with balls, which I liked. It was like an interim record between being a manic political lunatic back to a musician again.”

Speaking in the early 1970s, after a decade of super-fame, he said he did not feel different to how he had before. “I’m still a bit adolescent,” he said in one of his final interviews. “My old friends from Liverpool got jobs after school. I’d see them six months later and their hair would be thin and they’d be getting fat. They were becoming old men — while I just keep going.”

(source)